Oh God, that priest is here again. He gives me a big smile while for me that means I must get sprinkled with cow’s pee, AGAIN…!

After my father in law passed away. Nepal becomes another experience for me, because I have to see dead people get burned, and I should not eat salt, meat and even tomato, I also can’t touch my husband for 13 days. so he has to stay in a room and i can only saw him from far. Got sprinkled with cow’s pee while I already try so hard to run from it, but the priest not giving up easily and keep on chasing me around.  The other interesting thing is, my mother in law preparing all the items, such as fridge, sofa, bed, television, clothes and much more, to give to the priest with the believe that all those things will go to my father in law. I asked the priest at that time that he should open a furniture shop and electronic shop, because if one person died in one day and he got that much, how about 5 people died?.

1 month back, my husband took me to Nepal after our marriage, because in the same time, his father is really sick and stay in the hospital. My mother in law is such a sweet person. She welcomes me at home, cooks for me, and gives me tika as a blessing. Tells me to sit in the room and gives me 4 sets of jewelry, which is not yet includes my father in law and the whole relatives, gives me another set of jewelry. This makes me shock because the jewelry is heavy, big and really not my style, especially I don’t like to wear it either. For me jewelry is only for showing off and I don’t like showing off.

I was initially a little frustrated because of all the dust, dirt and potholes. Potholes in front of the department of road that never got fixed made me always wonder. I quickly learned the Nepali way of life – time is elastic, there is always tomorrow; and if you really think of it, dust and potholes don’t stop your life! I started taking these challenges in a positive way – I came to Shangri-la, didn’t I? If I wanted the streets spick and span, I should go to Singapore, and not Shangri-la. I started imagining that I’m on a horse ride when we drive around and get into these potholes, and dust flies all around me. Living in Nepal also makes me often jumping out from toilet most of the time because when I entering the toilet in the hospital for the first time, I saw a ‘poo’ floating everywhere and the smell can makes my perfume change smell become another smell .

There are funny things as well that happen to me I am married to Nepali and stays in Nepal. I have to wait in the middle of the pavement and can’t continue walking because I saw somebody was pee. So then I feel not polite and awkward if I just don’t care and walk nears him. And other time when me and my husband went to Bhaktapur, one family thought my husband is a tour guide and i am a tourist. This is not really nice, but still funny for me though…

But there is also so many positives things being married with Nepali, I learn so many new things. About their unique culture, habits, belief and moral value. As a family and friends, they really respect each other and always spare time to be together and not forgetting a cup of milk tea. Somehow I have an impression that Nepali people are friendly, nice hearted, loves their family and understanding.

Married with Nepali also become challenging, because of strong cultural beliefs about rituals. I am not allowed to go into the kitchen while I got my period! Also about ‘the beliefs’ that you should not give chilies to your mother in law’s hand because it can cause quarrel.  You also should not buy clothes on Monday because it gives you bad luck. And many other things.

while raising children in Nepali culture also very interesting. Luckily my mother in law did not force me to get our son swimming in mustard oil (smelly!) They do the rice feeding ceremony. They also believe to give a ring on the leg of the baby before the baby can walk. There are some positives things, because they teach children to understand the religion very early, introducing children to the temple and here in Nepal, they have so many temples and so many Gods.

Nepal is always become everybody’s dream every time we mention it. Especially the famous Himalaya Mountain, even I never dream that I will marry with a man from that dream land, but the reality tells that married to Nepali is really ‘something’ because they have strong culture, strong value and strong believes. And we can’t deal with all of that if we don’t have enough patients.

By Rianna Poudyal

Talking about style will never end. It can be so many things; it can start from hair style until life style. It has a very big scale, so we have to be specific, which kind of style that we are talking about here.

Usually among girls, style is around hair style, fashion style and make up style. While among guys, style is more into life style. Even these day lots of guys who admit them self as a metro sexual also start to care about their appearance.

Style already existed from centuries ago. Cleopatra, the famous queen of Egypt, she is the one who brings make up into the society. Her hair style is very well known until now. Also her cat-eye looks with very thick and black eyeliner is a superb way to make the eyes looks dramatic. The eyeliner in Cleopatra’s time was made from herb which now, known as Henna.

Style keeps on growing into another shape. In 16^th century, the style known as Renaissance. Renaissance patrons wanted art that showed joy in human beauty and life’s pleasures. It influenced the architecture style, painting and the value of beauty. Women were considered beautiful if they had long hair, thin lips and fleshy body figure, which means prosperity, healthy and fertile. Women’s hair coverings went from the ‘pointed cone’ style with no hair allowed to show, to the more popular light-weight veil type trimmed with flowers or lace. Most women had very long hair and kept it braided.

In 1966, a girl with born name Lesley Hornby who is famous as Twiggy brings new taste of style in fashion and body figure. Women were then considered beautiful with thin figure, large eyes, long eye lashes and simple dress with a simple cut. Short hair style and straight down in a side with a clip is the best option. While for some people who doesn’t like short hair, long hair with little curl on the bottom can be a choice. The fashion is famous with mini skirt and one piece simple elegant dress called ‘baby doll’.

In 1970^th, fashion follow the famous Disco movie ‘Grease’ with two trend setter, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Fashion began with a continuation of the miniskirts, hip-hugging bell-bottoms and the androgynous hippie look from the late 1960s. These include platform shoes which appeared on the fashion scene in 1971 and often had soles 2-4 inches thick. Women and teenage girls wore their hair long, with a centre or side parting and included the wavy “gypsy” cut. The Cosmetics in the 1970s reflected the contradictory roles ascribed to the modern woman. Make-up was chosen by situation, rather than in response to monolithic trends. The two primary visions were the daytime “natural look” and the evening aesthetic of “sexualized glamour”.

In the early 1980s both men and women began to wear looser shirts and tight close-fitting pants. Men wore power suits as a result of the greater tendency for people to display their wealth. During the “Like A Virgin” era, Madonna was titled the “Material Girl” and many young girls around the world looked to her for fashion statements. The popular 1983 movie Flashdance made ripped sweatshirts well-known in the general public. The hair styles in the 1980s were look like Princess of Wales, Lady Diana Spencer and you will see every hair style women followed throughout the decade. It began with a continuance of the Prudery cult hair cut. But as always there were variations and working women opted for styles which could be easily blow dried and togged with a cordless or electric styling brush.

in 1990s, it was the rise of grunge fashion. Grunge fashion consisted of both sexes wearing flannel shirts and other typical outdoor clothing. The rise of grunge fashion coincided with the rise to mainstream popularity of grunge music. The hair style constantly changed and pretty much anything was acceptable.  Hair like Jennifer Aniston’s character in ‘Friends’ was long and sleek with longer length layers and short hair like Demi Moore in the famous 90s film ‘Ghost’, are the hair style which is become trend at this time.

In year 2000, style moves a bit going on circle. Especially in 2010, most women beauty comes back a bit similar with beauty value in 60s. Beauty is tall, big eyes and slim figure. For hair style, people are more open for all kind of hair style. People tend to do experiment on everything; fashion, hair style and make-up. People choose to look natural on make-up by using natural color, even for special occasion. Simple, elegance and natural look is the number one options today. So, actually there is not only one definition of style and beauty. It keep on changing with time, it is culturally driven and has a lot to do with exposure.